13 December 2010

These notes are the outcome of a discussion with the chair of the course curriculum committee:

Course content - there should be three parts to the course:
  1. Current issues in K-12 Education that provide a context/background for technology and distance education
    1. C21 pressures for global industrial competitiveness (PISA exams)
    2. Accountability and RoI (Waiting for Superman)
    3. Demographics and education for rural and remote learners
    4. Special needs
    5. Research influences and "best practice" trends
  2. The role of technology, technology policy, limitations, and results
    1. historical uptake and expectations
    2. marketing of technology
    3. role of the school in spreading technology literacy
    4. research results of technology implementations
    5. costs and opportunity costs of technology implementation
    6. evolution of delivery models (and results of effectiveness)
  3. Leadership project on K-12 implementation of distance learning
    1. Case study of a technology project: (group project)
      1. background,
      2. interviews with 3 people {politician, administrator, teacher, learner, parent}
      3. policy, process and future plans
      4. examination of evidence or reports
      5. K-12 facilitation observation
      6. write up on observations, cost and effectiveness
  4. Final paper: review of research - propositions on techniques for improving K-12 distance education
    1. topics to be blogged. (individual accountability)
Textbooks:
up to 2 textbooks can be considered (to total cost of $100- $120 per learner)
OER resources and reports should be integrated where appropriate and available
Possible books:
- Collins, A. & Halverson, R. (010) Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The digital revolution and schooling in America.
- Hattie, J. (2009) Visible Learning
- Next Generation of Education http://www.aect.org/Events/symposia/sessions.asp?clientid=
Possible resources:
- Means, B. (2010)) Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning (US Dept Education)
- Di Pietro, M. (2008) Best practices in teaching K-12 online: Lessons learnerd from Michigan Virtual School teachers Jnl Interactive Online Learning 7(1) 10-35.